J Bob's Pearl Nuzlocke Adventure!
by Klassiekertje
Summary: Bound by honour to uphold a very strict and testing family tradition, J. Bob sets out on his very own Pokémon journey in the Sinnoh Region. Will he ever make it to the Sinnoh League to challenge the Elite Four, or will he fail miserably?
1. Introduction

Disclaimer:

I do not own any part of the Pokémon franchise. I do not own Game Freak. I do not own The Pokémon Company. I do not own Nintendo. I do not own any of the names or terms derived from, or relating to the Pokémon games.  
"J. Bob" and all Pokémon nicknames are of my own imagining.

Introduction:

This story is a record of an attempted play-through of the videogame "Pokémon Pearl Version", to the rules of the fanmade "Nuzlocke challenge". This challenge adds a number of rules to the way the game is played. Additionally, the Nuzlocke challenge offers a number of optional choices and traditions to offer even more challenge and above all, more fun. An explanation of those rules will be incorporated in the narrative of this story. One of the aforementioned traditions is to record the progress of the adventure in the form of a comic-style cartoon. I don't draw. Instead, I decided to record my progress in the form of this story. It is impossible to predict the outcome of this story, as I have yet to play most of the game.

For those who are familiar with either the game or the Nuzlocke challenge, I will say something about the game itself. If you are unfamiliar with the actual Pokémon games, you might consider skipping this part and continue to the story.  
One of the first questions that arose was the matter of which starter Pokémon to take at the start of the game. I decided to let the game decide for me. After starting a new game and entering a trainer name (J. Bob), I received a trainer card with a trainer ID No. I decided to let the final digit of that number determine which of the three starter Pokémon I would take. In case of 1, 2 or 3, I would take the first Pokémon; 4, 5 or 6, the second; 7, 8 or 9, the third; in case of 0, I would roll a six-sided die, divide the outcome by two, round up if necessary to tell me to go with Pokémon number 1, 2 or 3.


	2. Chapter 1: Hail Ceasar!

Chapter 1: Hail Ceasar!

A day like any other. Or so I thought. My buddy Clint told me he wanted to check something out at the Verity lakefront. There's no arguing with that guy and besides, he has a knack for leading us into fun situations anyway. So when we arrived there, we found this old man, accompanied by a girl. They just left, but Clint noticed they had left a briefcase behind in the patch of tall grass where they had been talking about the red Gyarados that had been rumoured to have appeared there. Upon examination, the case proved to contain three Pokéballs. No sooner had we made this discovery than we were attacked by two wild Starly! Neither Clint nor I had any Pokémon of our own with which to defend ourselves, so we each resorted to taking a Pokéball from the case. What choice did we have?! The Pokéball of my choice contained a Piplup and together we fought off one of the Starly, while Clint took care of the other with the Turtwig that was inside the ball of his choice. We had hardly recovered from that eventful encounter when the girl reappeared to pick up the briefcase. She was alarmingly surprised when she saw we had removed two of the Pokémon from it, but simply took the case and left. We too decided to leave. On route 201, back to our hometown of Twinleaf we met the duo again. The girl told the man what had happened but he just kind of shrugged it off and said he would return to his lab. Could this man be..? Back at home I related this adventure to my mom. She said there was no doubt that this man could be none other than the famous professor Rowan of Sandgem Town, the unquestioned authority on Pokémon in the Sinnoh region. I agreed with her that I should travel to his lab, accompanied by the Piplup I still had with me, to properly explain what happened at the lake and to offer my apologies for taking his Piplup without his consent. My mom then gave me an awesome pair of brand new running shoes!

Piplup and I made it to Sandgem Town without meeting many wild Pokémon on the way and were met by the girl, whose name turned out to be Dawn. She took me to the professor's lab, where I was nearly bowled over by Clint exiting the building in a rush. That's just him, always running! Dawn led the way and we entered the lab. I remember feeling excited; after all, what kid wouldn't want to visit the Pokémon professor in his lab?! Professor Rowan took a look at Piplup, then at me and what do you know? He gave Piplup to me as a gift, complimenting the bond between us! I decided to name it Ceasar, as I have read that once this Pokémon gains enough experience through battle, it will eventually evolve into Empoleon. I can only hope to see that day! My luck didn't end there, though. The professor then gave me yet another fantastic gift: my very own Pokédex. He explained how it automatically records data on a any Pokémon I encounter. I promised him I will try my best to fill up all the pages to get a clear image of all the different Pokémon that appear in our Sinnoh region. I can't wait to get started!


	3. Chapter 2: The Path of Nuzlocke

Chapter 2: The Path of Nuzlocke

In this way, I was presented an opportunity to set out on my own Pokémon journey, traversing the Sinnoh region, in order to collect the Gym badges from the eight Pokémon Gyms. Somehow, these badges have an effect that strengthens the bond between Pokémon and their trainer. Also, I would need those badges to be admitted to the Sinnoh League, where challengers may choose to try to defeat the Elite Four and the reigning Champion, which is the main purpose for undertaking a Pokémon journey.

Now, for generations my family has held to a certain tradition. It is based on a philosophy that my ancestor Nuzlocke upheld. He felt that humans treated Pokémon as slaves and considered that unethical. After all, Pokémon and humans inhabit this world, side by side. What then, felt he, gives us the right to catch any and every Pokémon that we encounter? What gives us the right to have them faint in battle, only to have them healed and sent into battle again and get knocked out again and again? Thus we treat Pokémon as slaves. Pokémon and people may choose to go side by side and develop bonds with each other, so he felt, and so we say in our family, as long as we, humans, respect the fact that Pokémon are living and essentially free beings. He felt that to lead a Pokémon heedlessly into battle is wrong. Our family tradition is, that _if_ we decide to go on a Pokémon journey, we try _only_ to catch the first Pokémon that we encounter in any area that we have not been in before. If anyone should choose to make us a gift of a Pokémon, we should gladly accept that gift. Still, they are our friends, not our slaves. To mark this friendship, we think it right to bestow fitting nicknames on the Pokémon that join us on our journey. Furthermore, and this is perhaps the most important element of our age-old Nuzlocke tradition, if we should lead any of our befriended Pokémon into any battle in which they should get knocked out, we feel that we as Pokémon Trainers have failed utterly in respecting the bond between our Pokémon and ourselves. We will then release that Pokémon, regardless of what we may have been through together. If our judgment should be so poor that we lose a battle altogether, having all of our Pokémon getting knocked out, we will admit utter defeat and forsake our journey completely, deeming ourselves unworthy of the title of Pokémon Trainer. This we call walking the Path of Nuzlocke.

It seemed to me that if I was ever going on a Pokémon journey, this was the time to do so. The Professor had given me Ceasar, a rare Pokémon, and a Pokédex to boot. I felt resolved to take on the Nuzlocke challenge of the Pokémon League!  
I left the lab and found Dawn waiting for me. She offered to show me round Sandgem Town. I knew Sandgem Town quite well, but hey, she was simply adamant. Who was I to refuse her? Maybe she thought I was a rookie or something. How could she know I grew up learning just about everything there is to know about the world of Pokémon, albeit in the context of my family's strict tradition? She showed me the Pokémon center with its characteristic red roof, where trainers may have their Pokémon healed, free of charge. She said (quite superfluously, though blissfully unaware of this fact) that Pokémon centers may be found in most towns and cities. She also showed me where the blue-roofed Pokémart was located. She explained how they sell various items such as different kinds of Pokéballs, healing items and what not. She also explained that available stock depends on the number of Gym badges a customer has.  
I thanked her sincerely and took her advice to go back to my house in Twinleaf Town, to let my mother know I was planning to go on a Pokémon journey. My mom was very proud of me and gave me a journal to take with me. (It's a good thing I own such a super-useful bag! It carries just about anything. I never quite figured out how they made a bag like that. It's like magic, if magic weren't fictional, of course.) Just then Clint's mother came in, asking me if I knew where her son might be. I really had no idea, the guy's always running around everywhere. She had a parcel for him and asked me if I would pass it to him when I came across him, saying he would most likely have headed for Jubilife City. So I put it in my super-useful, all-purpose bag and finally set out on my journey. Well, nearly anyway. First I needed to properly equip myself, so I made for Sandgem Town and spent all my cash on Pokéballs and potions. I had no doubt that Ceasar and I would do very well together, but I would most likely come to depend on a few more Pokémon friends whom I had yet to meet and they would have to be caught and kept in a ball, until we might have to part ways, of course. The same held true for Ceasar. The potions would let me heal them in case I couldn't make it to a Pokémon center in time.

Now that my journey was a fact, I decided to head back to route 201, to see which would be the first Pokémon I'd encounter. I had barely set foot in the patch of tall grass when out jumped a male Bidoof. I sent out Ceasar and the two faced off. The Bidoof needed to be weakened if I had any hope at all of catching him. After all, this was the only Pokémon I would allow myself to try to catch on route 201. Should I fail to, either because I might run out of Pokéballs, or because he would successfully flee from battle, that would be that. He looked kind of funny, like he was a bit slow on the uptake, yet he handled Ceasars attacks really well and managed to land a hit or two himself. After a while, he was somewhat weakened and I caught him on my first throw with a Pokéball. True to my family's tradition, I nicknamed him, because of my first impression of him, Doofus.  
It was time to head for route 202 to Jubilife City. There I was met yet again by Dawn, who (obviously wrongfully) assumed I needed instruction on how to catch wild Pokémon, which of course I let her give me. She seemed quite excited to show me how it's done and afterwards gave me five more Pokéballs. Nice! She then went on to Jubilife City, whereas I decided to just enter the grass to try to catch my next Pokémon. A male Starly appeared. It struck me that just like the penguin-like Ceasar, this was a bird Pokémon. I liked that idea a lot. After successfully catching it, I nicknamed him Wingman, because I expect him to be Ceasars prime partner.  
I felt that this trio was in dire need of some training before I would take them into any battle against another trainer. We trained some, back on route 201, where a lady who works at the Sandgem mart kindly gave me a free potion. We trained some more on route 202 and after having healed at the Sandgem Pokémon Center, headed for Jubilife City.  
Back on route, we met some loitering trainers who insisted on having a battle. Now this was our first-ever experience against trained Pokémon, but to be honest, it was no challenge at all. Ceasar eagerly soaked up the experience and grew to learn a new move, the Bubble attack that could slow down an opposing Pokémon, as well as inflict some damage. Moreover, since both Ceasar and that move share the water type, that rather weak move will be a little bit more powerful.

Battling these trainers made me wonder if there are any other trainers out there who impose a similar path like that of Nuzlocke upon themselves. I have never heard of anyone outside of my family abiding by such strict rules, but then again, it's something I grew up with, to me it has always been a simple fact. Facing these trainers and their Pokémon did however make me realize the truth of the matter: I must cherish the bond between my Pokémon and myself, for any battle could be their last. Or mine, for that matter.


End file.
